Oracle sues Google over Java use, again

Google's copyright infringement woes continue with a new case against Oracle, the owners of the Java programming language.

According to fresh media reports this Tuesday morning, Java owners are back suing Google for the use of Java in its Android operating system, and they're seeking $9.3 billion in damages (£6.53bn).

The height of the lawsuit was calculated by an expert Oracle hired. PCWorld says that expert James Malackowski split the damages in two parts, damages incurred by Oracle ($475m, £333m), and profits made by Google ($8.8bn, £6.1bn).

The trial is set to start on May 9 in a federal district court in San Francisco, with witnesses including Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Google’s Eric Schmidt.

This is not the first time Oracle and Google are at each other's throats regarding the use of Java. The same lawsuit was filed against Google back in 2012, with the jury saying Google copied into Android the "structure, sequence and organization" of 37 Java application programming interfaces. A judge later ruled that APIs are not eligible for protection.

An appeals court overturned the decision, sending the case to the Supreme Court, which declined to take it, bringing the entire process back to step one.

Oracle says Google was rushing to get the operating system out into the market so that it does not get overrun by competition.